Why did parliament believe the colonist would accept the tea act of 1773

The main reason why Parliament believed the colonist would accept the tea act of 1773 was because in reality it was a very modest increase in cost, and people in Britain already had it. 

The answer is "he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not temp him to turn slave-trader. satirical is a synonym for sarcastic. so when the author says that tom walker could not be tempted by the devil he does not literally mean "the devil" but he means that he is too morally upright to become a slave-trader.